Just a quick one, we’ll have more on these guys later. A short lived band, some of which went on to be Trembling Blue Stars. Last Poop Shoot done by the Uncanny featured a Field Mice song and in comments Z-Bag from empire of the senseless recommended a little mix tape of Field Mice tunes. Interestingly, shingles professed a desire for more jangle. Well here it is. This band is all over the map in terms of influences. They are contemporary with the rise of the Stone Roses and the La’s and certainly can be placed with that generation of bands influenced by the Smiths but also experimenting with some even deeper retro stylings, but at the same time some electronics as well. This is more of a place holder Song of the Day, to pay tribute to Z-bag for his kind edumatory comment, and to give Shingles 15 seconds of ringing, jangley goodness. We snagged this one with our free trial at eMusic.

Coach Station Reunion-FIELD MICE (just click the play icon)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

While I’m not quite the enthusiast that Z-bag is, The Field Mice (and it is The Field Mice) are fairly spiffy. I have the same compilation that Z-bag does, and there are a number of terrific tracks – several of them better (to me anyway) than “Coach Station Reunion” (which I do like, though it always reminds me of The Monkees for some reason).

To my eye, Z-bag’s list of suggested songs is idiosyncratic as it includes at least one track I consider distinctly inferior (“If You Need Someone”). I’m not saying my list would be less idiosyncratic – it might be more so – just that from this stunning sample of two people, it appears there’s not all that much consensus on which songs are best.

It looks like UC is referring to “seven minute electronic drone” songs by TFM. He may be referring to “Triangle” or maybe “Missing The Moon”. To see other bits of the range of what TFM get up to, “Canada” and “White” might be worth a listen.

I recommend “It Isn’t Forever”.

According to the Where’d You Learn To Kiss That Way? liner notes, other spinoff bands are Northern Picture Library, Another Sunny Day, and Picture Center, and member Harvey Williams has albums under his own name. There’s a Trembling Blue Stars clip at YouTube.